Blackstone Signs MOU with Arca: Seizing Carbon Capture Opportunity

Blackstone Minerals Limited (“Blackstone” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the Company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Arca Climate Technologies Inc. (“Arca”).

Announcement Highlights

• Blackstone and Arca sign MOU to further investigate the carbon capture potential at Ta Khoa Project via carbon mineralisation and explore opportunities to utilise Arca’s carbon capture technologies within the Project,
• Studies indicate that passive CO2 capture is possible at a scale of kilo-tonnes of CO2 per year from the Project’s mine waste. This is significant compared to similar projects,
• In July 2023 the European Union Council declared from 18 February 2025, every industrial or electric vehicle battery on the EU market with a capacity of over 2 kWh will require a battery passport containing information on items including carbon footprint declaration¹,
• Life Cycle Analysis has shown the Project is capable to produce a nickel product with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry, with identified pathways to reduce the carbon footprint further with additional studies,
• Carbon mineralisation is one technology being considered to further reduce the Project’s carbon footprint.

Arca is developing a portfolio of carbon capture technologies to measure, maximise and monetise the carbon mineralisation potential of mine waste. Using its proprietary intellectual property, Arca helps its partners in the minerals industry to transform mine waste into an industrial-scale carbon sink, advancing the future of carbon-negative mining.

Blackstone continues its pursuit to be one of the greenest nickel producers in the world. Successful implementation of Arca’s proprietary intellectual property will enable Blackstone to further reduce the Company’s Ta Khoa Project’s (“TKP”) carbon footprint, allowing Blackstone to realise its Green Nickel™ vision and position the Company to meet the growing global demand for low carbon intensity battery raw materials.

Under the MOU, Arca and Blackstone agree to collaborate on the following:

• Blackstone and Arca will enter non-exclusive strategic relationship to further investigate the carbon capture potential at TKP via carbon mineralisation,
• Arca will expand on previous characterisation work which has indicated the Ta Khoa Project contains minerals such as brucite, known to be highly reactive to CO2 in air,
• Data collected from this engagement will inform future design considerations to maximise carbon mineralisation, further reducing TKP’s carbon footprint and providing a pathway to carbon-negative mining.

Figure 1: Arca scientists demonstrate how carbon dioxide mineralisation rates are measured on mine tailings. Photo: Taku River Tingit First Nation traditional territory, British Columbia, Canada

Significance of the Green Nickel™ strategy

Lower carbon emissions intensity has potential to add value to the Company and differentiate it from competitors in relation to its product offering. There is increasing global pressure on disclosing carbon emissions intensity within battery supply chains and their lifecycle. From 18 February 2025, every industrial or electric vehicle (“EV”) battery on the EU market with a capacity of over 2 kWh will require a battery passport (refer to https://www.circulor.com/battery-passport), containing information on items including a carbon footprint declaration as well as human rights and battery supply chain due diligence obligations throughout the battery value chain².

As an example, Polestar, the Swedish electric performance car brand, is setting the trend to provide transparency throughout the automotive industry by working with Circulor, a supply chain technology provider. With the partnership, Polestar and Circulor will track a wide range of raw materials. Consumers will be able to follow the journey thanks to Polestar’s Product Sustainability Declaration, which discloses carbon footprint and traced risk materials through labelling on the company website and in Polestar Spaces, setting a unique transparency precedent for the industry and an ambitious standard for the carbon tracking scheme within the battery passport³.

It is expected that this legislative environment will support and incentivise battery manufacturers to source raw materials from suppliers with demonstrated lower carbon emissions intensity in their supply chains, supporting demand and pricing for Ta Khoa Project’s nickel products.

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